Iron



March 12,1968 E, w. MCCLEEREY 3,372,498

IRON Filed Oct. 28, 1966 III 4 smwwamxa'hm WITNESSES INVENTOR Earl W. Mc Cleerey United States Patent 3,372,498 IRON Earl W. McCleerey, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Oct. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 590,317 Claims. (Cl. 38-77) This invention relates, in general, to domestic appliances and, more particularly, to electric irons.

The operating temperature of electric irons may be varied to accommodate the pressing of a variety of fabrics, for example, wool, silk, cotton, etc. To aid the operator, electric irons are provided with an indicia plate for indicating the type of fabric to be pressed at a particular setting of the temperature adjustment mechanism of the iron. However, because of the many different ironing habits of the consumer, for example, eager hurried motion and casual or meticulous movement, the type of fabric or material indicated, may, or may not be the proper one to be ironed at that particular setting of the control. This is due to the difference in heat transfer due to relative motions of different operators and/or the difierences in the multitude of fabrics available.

Moreover, manufacturing calibration tolerances of to 30 F. further complicate the problem, these tolerances being necessary to render the manufacture of electric irons economically feasible.

One solution to the foregoing problem is to construct the iron such that the operator can change the complete dial range thereof to a higher or lower setting by adjusting the same elements as the manufacturer when the iron is fabricated. This approach causes three problems: One, the maximum temperature limit set by Underwriters Laboratories for various components of the iron may be exceeded; two, the critical temperature of the iron at the steam setting may be set to improper values, either too cold or too hot for efficient transfer of water to steam; and three, the off setting of the iron may be lost, resulting in an unsafe product.

Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electric iron.

It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide, in an electric iron, means for compensating for differences in ironing habits, without rendering the iron unsafe.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved iron having a movable indicia plate for indicating the type of fabric to be ironed.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent when considered in view of the following detailed description and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view, in section, of an electric iron representing the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IIII of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, especially FIG. 1, reference character 10 designates generally a steam iron. Certain parts of the iron 10 are of more or less conventional construction and are included for the purpose of illustrating an operative device in which the parts forming the present invention have their environment. Thus, the iron comprises a soleplate 11 having a conventional U-shaped heating element 12 embedded therein. A water reservoir 13 is supported above the soleplate 11 by means of a bracket 14, secured to the soleplate in a suitable manner.

A steam generating or vaporization chamber 16 is provided in the soleplate 11 subadjacent a valve seat 17 in the underside of the reservoir 13. A plurality of channels 18 (only one shown) connecting the vaporization chamber with a plurality of steam discharge ports 15 in the soleplate, serve to convey the steam from the steam generating chamber 16 to the discharge ports 15. A valve stem 19 is adapted to regulate the flow of water from the reservoir into the chamber 16 by means of conventional cam mechanism (not shown) actuated by means of a combination control knob 21. A suitable cam mechanism is shown and described in US. Patent 3,111,780, issued to A. D. Smith and assigned to the same assignee as this application. The control knob 21 also serves to actuate a temperature adjustment rod 22 through the cam mechanism, not shown. The lower end of the rod 22 is operatively connected to a movable contact arm 23 which carries an electrical contact 24. Together with a contact arm 26 carrying a contact 27, the contact arm 23 and the contact 24 complete an electrical circuit in a well known manner, through the heating element 12 from a power cord (not shown) connected to input conductors 28, only one being shown.

As will be apparent the rod 22 is adapted to vary the pressure between the contacts 24 and 27. A bimetallic element 25 secured to the soleplate 11 in cantilever fashion so that an electrically nonconducting pin 31 carried thereby lies intermediate the contact arms 23 and 26. The bimetallic element 25 responds to an increase in the soleplate ambient temperature, deflecting down- Wardly, thereby contacting the lower contact arm 26, moving it such that the contacts 24 and 27 become disengaged. The temperature at which disengagement is accomplished may be varied, to suit the type of a fabric to be ironed, through the control rod 22, the cam mechanism (not shown) and the control knob 21.

A shell or cover 32, made from any suitable material, for example steel, fits over the reservoir 13 and is secured to the soleplate 11 by a stud (not shown) secured to the bracket 14 and a nut, also not shown. Secured to the shell 32 in any suitable manner is a handle 33. The handle 33 comprises a hand gripping portion 34 and a front leg 36 which is hollow for accommodating passage of the control rod 22 and the valve stem 19 to a point adjacent the open end of the front leg 36 whereat, they, as is the control knob 21, are suitably connected to the cam mechanism, not shown.

A cover structure 37 is provided at the open end top of the front leg 36. The cover structure 37 fits snugly against an inside edge 38 of a rear wall 39 of the front leg 36 which rear wall forms one side of the hollow accommodating the rod 22 and the valve stem 19. A support lever 41 for the control knob 21 extends, in part, through a slit 42 formed by a lower edge 43 of the cover 37 and upper surface of a front wall 44 of the front leg 36. The slit 42 extends throughout an arc of slightly more than one-half of a circle, at the front and opposite sides of the cover 37. The control knob 21 has an indexing means in the form of a pointer 46, see FIG. 2, which extends over the outer edge of the cover structure 37.

The cover structure 37 has a horseshoe-shaped segment 47 provided with a sector-shaped window 48 through which a similarly shaped calibrating member 49 provided with indicia Lo, Syn, Hi, Wool, Cotton, appears. The window 48 lies intermediate a pair of panels 51 and 51' which are provided with indicia designating Off and Steam. The panels 51 and 51' together with the calibrating member 49 form an indicia plate structure 52. The control knob 21 and the support lever 41 move in an accurate path such that the 3 pointer 46 moves across the indicia carried by the structure 52.

The calibrating member 49 is movably secured to the underside of the cover structure 37 by a screw 53 inserted through an offset portion 54 thereof. As can be seen in FIG. 2, when the movable member 49 occupies its extreme counterclockwise position the iron is calibrated for operation over a first range of operating temperatures. When, as shown in FIG. 3, the member 49 has been moved to its extreme clockwise position, the iron is calibrated for operation over a second range of operating temperatures.

In operation the user may find that when ironing syn thetic material with the member 49 and the pointer 46 positioned, as shown in FIG. 2, the iron operates satisfactorily; in which case the user will also find that when ironing cotton fabrics with the member 49 and the pointer 46 (dotted position) positioned as shown in FIG. 2, the iron produces satisfactory results. However, the user may find that with the aforementioned settings of the calibrated member 49 and the pointer 46 that the iron does not get hot enough because of hurried ironing habits. In this instance, the member 49 may be moved clockwise, for example, to the position shown in FIG. 3. This serves to vary the operating range through which the pointer 46 moves when aligning it with the indicia carried by plate structure 52. Once the operator finds the proper position for the member 49, whether it be as shown in FIG. 2 or 3 or at some intermediate position, she may note the relative positioning of a radial pointer 56 extending from the periphery of the member 49 and indicia 57 etched or otherwise suitably provided in the front edge 58 of the cover structure 37.

It will be apparent that numerous changes may be made in the above described apparatus, without departing from the spirit thereof, for example, the shape of the indicia bearing elements may be rectangular or any other suitable shape and may even be carried by the iron housing or handle structures; further the movement of these elements may be in a straight line. Accordingly it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. An iron comprising, housing structure including a handle, a soleplate, means for heating said soleplate, means for automatically controlling the energization of said heating means to thereby control the operating temperature of said soleplate, said automatic control means being adjustable to various settings, means for varying the setting of. said control means, indicia bearing structure adjacent the path of movement of said means for varying the setting of said control means, said indicia bearing structure including a member provided with indicia indicative of the type of material to be ironed and movable from at least a first position wherein said varying means and said member cooperate to calibrate said iron for operation through a first range of temperatures, and a second position wherein said varying means and said member cooperate to calibrate said iron for operation through a second range of temperatures.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1, including indexing means adapted to cooperate with said movable member, and means serving to designate at least said first and second positions.

3. Structure as specified in claim 2, wherein said indexing means comprises a pointer carried by said movable member and indicia printed on said indicia bearing structure adjacent the path of movement of said movable member.

4. Structure as specified in claim 1, wherein said indicia bearing structure further comprises a stationary member provided with indicia cooperating with said control varying means for setting the iron in the off condition or in a steaming condition.

5. Structure as specified in claim 4, wherein said stationary member includes positive stop means for limiting travel of said movable member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,755,574 7/1956 Herman 38-77 3,104,482 9/1963 Jepson 38--77 3,111,780 11/1963 Smith 3877 3,264,764 8/1966 Vieceli 3'877 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN IRON COMPRISING HOUSING STRUCTURE INCLUDING A HANDLE, A SOLEPLATE, MEANS FOR HEATING SAID SOLEPLATE, MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING THE ENERGIZATION OF SAID HEATING MEANS TO THEREBY CONTROL THE OPERATING TEMPERATURE OF SAID SOLEPLATE, SAID AUTOMATIC CONTROL MEANS BEING ADJUSTABLE TO VARIOUS SETTINGS, MEANS FOR VARYING THE SETTING OF SAID CONTROL MEANS, INDICIA BEARING STRUCTURE ADJACENT THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID MEANS FOR VARYING THE SETTING OF SAID CONTROL MEANS, SAID INDICIA BEARING STRUCTURE INCLUDING A MEMBER PROVIDED WITH INDICIA INDICATIVE OF THE TYPE OF MATERIAL TO BE IRONED AND MOVABLE FROM AT LEAST A FIRST POSITION WHEREIN SAID 